# The Gentle Lena explained — Three Lives > Chapter companion for Three Lives by Gertrude Stein. ## What happens Lena Mainz, a gentle and patient German servant, is brought to Bridgepoint by her aunt and works for four years. She is teased by other girls but remains placid. She becomes engaged to Herman Kreder, who is reluctant but pressured by his parents. They marry, and Lena becomes increasingly lifeless and detached. She has three children, whom Herman cares for devotedly, and dies after giving birth to a fourth child. ## Themes in this chapter ### Servitude and Self-Sacrifice Lena's patient, uncomplaining nature as a servant and later as a wife, culminating in her death after childbirth, reflects a life of quiet self-sacrifice. ### Immigrant Experience Lena's journey from Germany to America, her work as a servant, and her arranged marriage illustrate the immigrant experience of displacement and adaptation. ### Repetition and Routine Lena's life is marked by repetitive daily tasks and a monotonous existence, and after marriage she becomes increasingly lifeless, while Herman finds contentment in a regular, solitary routine. ## Character check-ins ### Lena Mainz The gentle, patient German servant who marries Herman Kreder and becomes increasingly lifeless, eventually dying after childbirth. ### Herman Kreder Reluctant husband of Lena, pressured by his parents into marriage; he becomes devoted to their children and lives contentedly alone after Lena's death. ### Mrs. Haydon Lena's aunt who arranges her marriage to Herman Kreder, scolding Lena but acting out of a sense of duty. ### Old Mr. Kreder Herman's father who pressures him to honor the marriage bargain, traveling to New York to bring Herman back. ### Mrs. Aldrich Lena's kind mistress who speaks kindly to Lena and is remembered by the cook after Lena's death. ## Key lines > Lena was patient, gentle, sweet and german. She had been a servant for four years and had liked it very well. Lena was a patient, gentle, sweet German girl who had worked as a servant for four years and was content with her life. _Introduces Lena's character and her satisfaction with servitude._ > Lena’s german voice when she knocked and called the family in the morning was as awakening, as soothing, and as appealing, as a delicate soft breeze in midday, summer. Lena's German-accented morning calls were gentle and soothing, like a soft summer breeze. _Describes Lena's gentle and calming presence._ > The other girls, of course, did tease her, but then that only made a gentle stir within her. The other girls teased Lena, but it only caused a mild, pleasant disturbance in her calm demeanor. _Highlights Lena's unflappable nature._ > Lena had eyebrows that were a wondrous thickness. They were black, and spread, and very cool, with their dark color and their beauty, and beneath them were her hazel eyes, simple and human, with the earth patience of the working, gentle, german woman. Lena had strikingly thick, black eyebrows that contrasted with her simple, patient hazel eyes, reflecting the earthy endurance of a working German woman. _Physical description emphasizing Lena's earthy patience._ > Lena was a brown and pleasant creature, brown as blonde races often have them brown, brown, not with the yellow or the red or the chocolate brown of sun burned countries, but brown with the clear color laid flat on the light toned skin beneath, the plain, spare brown that makes it right to have been made with hazel eyes, and not too abundant straight, brown hair, hair that only later deepens itself into brown from the straw yellow of a german childhood. Lena had a pleasant brown complexion, typical of blonde races, a flat, clear brown that suited her hazel eyes and straight brown hair that had darkened from childhood straw-yellow. _Detailed description of Lena's coloring and appearance._ > Lena had the flat chest, straight back and forward falling shoulders of the patient and enduring working woman, though her body was now still in its milder girlhood and work had not yet made these lines too clear. Lena's body showed the early signs of a working woman's build—flat chest, straight back, and sloping shoulders—but she was still young and not yet marked by years of labor. _Describes Lena's physique as that of a working woman in her youth._ > The rarer feeling that there was with Lena, showed in all the even quiet of her body movements, but in all it was the strongest in the patient, old-world ignorance, and earth made pureness of her brown, flat, soft featured face. Lena's rare quality was evident in her calm movements and most of all in her patient, innocent, and earthy face. _Captures Lena's unique, serene essence._ > Lena had just picked up the fancy paper made accordion that the little girl had dropped beside her, and was making it squeak sadly as she pulled it with her brown, strong, awkward finger. 'Why, what is it, Mary, paint?' said Lena, putting her finger to her mouth to taste the dirt spot. 'That’s awful poison Lena, don’t you know?' said Mary, 'that green paint that you just tasted.' Lena had sucked a good deal of the green paint from her finger. Lena picked up a paper accordion and, seeing a spot on her finger, tasted it, not realizing it was green paint. Mary warned her it was poison, but Lena had already sucked off a lot. _Illustrates Lena's naivety and the teasing she endures._ > Lena always liked it when Mrs. Aldrich her good mistress spoke to her kindly, and then Lena would seem to go back and feel herself to be like she was when she had been in service. Lena felt comforted when Mrs. Aldrich spoke kindly, momentarily returning to her former contented self as a servant. _Shows Lena's longing for her earlier, simpler life._ > Lena was not so much scared now when she had the babies. She did not seem to notice very much when they hurt her, and she never seemed to feel very much now about anything that happened to her. Lena became increasingly numb and indifferent, even to the pain of childbirth and her children's needs. _Describes Lena's emotional detachment after marriage._ > Herman never really cared much about his wife, Lena. The only things Herman ever really cared for were his babies. Herman was indifferent to Lena but deeply devoted to their children. _Highlights Herman's emotional priorities._ > When the baby was come out at last, it was like its mother lifeless. While it was coming, Lena had grown very pale and sicker. When it was all over Lena had died, too, and nobody knew just how it had happened to her. The baby was born lifeless, and Lena, pale and sick, died during childbirth, with no one understanding the cause. _Describes Lena's death in childbirth._ > The good german cook who had always scolded Lena, and had always to the last day tried to help her, was the only one who ever missed her. Only the German cook, who had constantly scolded Lena but tried to help her, remembered her after her death. _Emphasizes the cook's unique remembrance of Lena._ > Herman Kreder now always lived very happy, very gentle, very quiet, very well content alone with his three children. Herman lived contentedly and peacefully alone with his three children after Lena's death. _Describes Herman's post-marriage life._ > You get all ready to be married Tuesday, Lena, you hear me,' said Mrs. Haydon to her. 'You come here Tuesday morning and I have everything all ready for you.' Mrs. Haydon instructed Lena to prepare for her marriage on Tuesday, saying she would have everything arranged. _Shows Mrs. Haydon's authoritative role in arranging the marriage._ > Herman was not so content about it. He was quiet and was sullen and he knew he could not help it. He knew now he just had to let himself get married. Herman was unhappy and resigned to the marriage, feeling he had no choice. _Reveals Herman's reluctance and sense of obligation._ > When you make a bargain you just got to stick right to it, that was the only way old Mr. Kreder could ever see it, and saying you would get married to a girl and she got everything all ready, that was a bargain just like one you make in business and Herman he had made it, and now Herman he would just have to do it. Old Mr. Kreder viewed the marriage promise as a binding business contract that Herman must honor. _Illustrates the father's pragmatic, contractual view of marriage._ > Lena now fell back into the way she always had of being always dreamy and not there, the way she always had been, except for the few days she was so excited, because she had been left by a man the very day she was to have been married. Lena returned to her usual dreamy, detached state, except for a brief period of excitement when she was jilted on her wedding day. _Describes Lena's habitual passivity and the exception of her earlier engagement._ ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/three_lives_se/chapters/the-gentle-lena - Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/three_lives_se - All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/three_lives_se/chapters